By Brett Grassmuck
Staff Writer

There’s the Super Bowl, there’s the Pro Bowl, and then there’s the Governor’s Cup.

While the first two might hold a slightly higher value, the Governor’s Cup has become something of significance between the cities of St. Louis and Kansas City. When the Rams travel to Arrowhead Stadium Thursday for the annual contest, they know what to expect.

“It’s funny,” Rams wide receiver Dane Looker said. “The fourth preseason game is the preseason coming to an end. Usually, it’s not quite as intense as most games, but every year I’ve played the Chiefs, it’s an intense game. It’s physical, especially when we go to Arrowhead.”

While you may not see the starters duking it out on the field to the last play as if it were the Super Bowl, you will see them taking extra interest in what’s going on with the second- and third-team players finishing the contest.

“It’s bragging rights,” Rams quarterback Trent Green said. “Toward the end of the game, you usually end up with your seconds and thirds in there, but you’ll see the starters and some of the veteran guys hooting and hollering quite a bit to get guys revved up.”

Green knows a thing or two about Missouri Governor’s Cup games. Thursday’s contest against his former team will be the ninth Governor’s Cup game he will have taken part in as either a Ram or a Chief.

“I know it is a preseason game, but I know that both sides take a great deal of pride in it as well,” Green said.

The Governor’s Cup game didn’t originate when the Rams moved to St. Louis in 1995, it goes back much further than that. The Chiefs battled with the St. Louis Cardinals from 1968-1988 until the team’s relocation to Arizona. The Chiefs led the overall series with the Cardinals 16-7-2.

The Governor’s cup laid dormant for seven years until the 1996 season when St. Louis and Kansas City rejuvenated the contest. Thursday’s game will be the 15th meeting between the Rams and Chiefs since 1996, and the 40th meeting between the two cities for the Governor’s Cup.

“For us, it’s like a dress rehearsal for the season, but for the state of Missouri, it’s a big thing,” Rams defensive end Leonard Little said. “There’s a rivalry there between us and Kansas City because we’re so close.”

Almost every year, the Governor’s Cup contest is held in the preseason, but the Rams and Chiefs have locked up four times in the regular season. The Chiefs have an overall 8-6 series lead, but the Rams lead the preseason contest 6-4. Kansas City also maintains the edge in the overall series, with a 13-24-2 record since 1968.

The Rams came away with a 10-3 victory in the teams’ last meeting, August 30, 2007 at the Edward Jones Dome, and they look to extend their lead in the preseason series Thursday.

“When you have two teams in the same state, it’s a rivalry,” Rams safety Corey Chavous said. “Even the regular season game that we had here and the preseason games that I’ve played against them since I’ve been here, as compared to when I was with the Vikings, it’s a total different atmosphere and intensity.”

It may be an important game for the state of Missouri, but for the two teams it is still the final preseason game. The last chance to get all the kinks worked out before the regular season.

Former Rams and Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil needed the final home game to work out the kinks in his first year with the Rams.

The Rams defeated the Chiefs 10-6 at Arrowhead Stadium on August 28, 1998. What ensued following the Rams victory has become one of the all-time great Governor’s Cup stories floating through the halls of the Russell Training Center.

Vermeil, the winning head coach, was asked to pose for a photograph following the game. He was joined by only one person, Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan, prompting him to ask the question “where’s the other governor?”

“That was coach’s Yogi Berra moment, I guess,” Green said, smiling.